Andy Staples: Colorado will make a bowl game in 2024

The upcoming 2024 college football season will likely be yet another where the Colorado Buffaloes are in the spotlight as they enter year two under head coach Deion Sanders. Looking to improve from their four-win season last year and do so in a new conference as they join the Big 12.

Colorado was a 1-11 team far from the national spotlight before Sanders arrived in Boulder, now one of the most talked about college football teams in the country with lofty expectations. But On3’s Andy Staples predicted on Tuesday that the Buffs will make a bowl appearance and achieve at least six wins for the first time since 2016.

“Colorado will make a bowl game,” Staples said. “I realize that when we discuss Colorado there are usually one of two extremes being staked out, and I get it, because when people talk about Colorado it’s not just your average college football fan.”

“We talked about Colorado having escape velocity, Deion Sanders as escape velocity where he escapes the college football bubble and goes into the main sports bubble and the non-sports bubble and then people have very extreme opinions because they don’t know how the sport actually works,” Staples explained.

Since Sanders has taken over the Colorado program the Buffaloes have set television viewership and season ticket sales records despite not being a powerhouse program. And although Staples does not think they will be next season either, he does think they will take a step in the right direction.

“So if you’re talking about Colorado, you’re either saying they’re gonna win the Big 12 or they’re gonna go 3-9. The truth is probably more in the middle,” Staples said. “They were a four-win team last year, they lost some close games. The idea of them being a 6-6 or 7-5 team is not that extreme.”

The Buffaloes had glaring issues up front on both sides of the ball last season, highlighted by quarterback Shedeur Sanders ending the year as the most sacked quarterback in the country. And following yet another season of massive roster changes through the transfer portal, on paper Colorado could have what it takes to be on the winning side of things.

“I think they can be two wins better than they were last season. They have brought in offensive linemen, who if you look at their performance at their previous schools, look like they can be better than what they had last year,” Staples explained. “We’ll see how the offense looks, Pat Shurmur taking over, it’s going to look like a different offense than the one when they ran under Sean Lewis.”

“So I don’t know if that’s going to be better for Senator Sanders or not, we’ll find out. Travis Hunter though, will be the best player on the field probably in all of their games. That’s a helpful thing,” Staples added. “Defensively we’ll see, did they get better on the defensive line? If you look at the individual performances of the players that they got out of the portal on last year’s teams, they probably are better.”

Colorado lost five games by a touchdown or less last season in a difficult Pac-12 Conference. Now crossing over to the Big 12 where they will have to face programs like Utah, Kansas State, and Oklahoma State that many predict can win the conference this season. And it will be fascinating to see if Sanders made the necessary changes this offseason to turn some of those close losses to wins in 2024 versus some new conference foes.

“I don’t know how much better and I’ve said and it makes the Colorado fans very mad when I say this, that I don’t know that they’re going to be that much better than last season. But you don’t have to be that much better than last season to be 6-6,” Staples said.